POLAND

Petra Majdic won a Winter Olympics cross country bronze but deserved a special medal for extraordinary valor after conquering an excruciating injury over three races before painfully climbing to the podium.

American Lindsey Vonn overcame a painful injury and the weight of massive expectation to win a scintillating and, for many, very painful women's downhill and seize the limelight at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday.

Two commuter trains crashed head-on near Brussels during the Monday morning rush hour killing 18 people.

NATO and the European Union's new president joined U.S. President Barack Obama in congratulating Viktor Yanukovich on Friday on his election in Ukraine, as the West looked to extend a hand to the Moscow-leaning leader.

European leaders struck a deal to provide financial aid to Greece on Thursday, in an unprecedented move to stave off a broader crisis in the 16-nation bloc that shares the euro single currency.

Sweden took the number one spot from the United States to top the annual rankings on the usage of telecommunications technologies such as networks, cellphones and computers, a report released on Thursday shows.

Wall Street was set to open higher on Thursday as key euro zone officials struck a deal to help Greece with its debt crisis, and U.S. data showed claims for first-time jobless benefits fell more than expected last week.

European leaders have reached a deal to provide aid to Greece, EU president Herman Van Rompuy said on Thursday, in an unprecedented move to stave off a broader crisis in the 16-nation bloc that shares the euro.

In a new study, the researchers report that using a standard 1-inch needle to immunize obese adolescents against hepatitis B virus produced a much weaker effect than using a longer needle.

Electric cars must be backed by smart power networks if they are to help the world's climate problems, environmentalists warned on Monday as European ministers prepared to debate a strategy for the sector.

The days when high-tech rooms for hotels meant adding a kettle and alarm clock are long gone, with hotels realizing guests want far more wizardry in their rooms.

Russia's navy will strengthen its Baltic fleet in response to U.S. plans to deploy Patriot missiles in Poland, Russia's state RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed senior navy official.

They've never known a world without the Internet, but they still prefer to meet their friends offline.

Poland's state-owned utility Energa and state-controlled lignite miner Adamow inked a deal to build windfarms with a total output of 80 megawatts, Energa said on Thursday.

Joint hosts Poland's Euro 2012 preparations suffered a blow on Wednesday when one of the venue cities scrapped a deal with a company building a tournament stadium.

General Motors unit Opel said new registrations of its cars rose to the highest level in four years in 2009, when government-backed scrapping incentives bolstered a floundering European auto industry.

A survivor of the Nazi death camp at which John Demjanjuk is accused of helping to kill 27,900 Jews recalled in court on Tuesday losing his wife after a three-day train journey to the extermination center.

Fiat may offer to raise car production in Italy 50 percent when it holds preliminary talks with the government on Tuesday, in return for tax breaks on some car sales and possible help in reducing labour costs.

John Demjanjuk sat impassively while Holocaust survivors on Monday recalled the horrors of Nazi Germany at his trial on charges of helping to force 27,900 Jews into gas chambers in 1943.

Australia's central bank raised interest rates for a record third successive month earlier in December, pulling further back from emergency lows as the economy gallops ahead of its peers in the developed world.

Trade in controversial carbon rights under the Kyoto Protocol after 2012 could undermine emissions targets agreed under a new global climate pact, the European Union environment commissioner said on Tuesday.